Despite recent reports in the news that the drought in North Texas is over, Stage 1 drought restrictions are still in effect.

Arlington obtains its raw water from Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD). Recent heavy rains did have a tremendous impact on TRWD's water supply, pushing the district's overall system storage capacity to 82 percent. However, TRWD's East Texas reservoirs, Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers, and Lake Bridgeport saw very little recovery and are still several feet below storage capacity.

Arlington gets most of its water from the Cedar Creek and Richland Chambers reservoirs, located 80 miles southeast of Dallas.

Taking into consideration the current capacity of the East Texas reservoirs and the widely-accepted prediction that La Nina conditions will persist into the summer, TRWD and its customer cities have decided to remain in Stage 1 of the drought plan until further notice, which includes twice per week watering restrictions.

For more about drought conditions, read North Texas water restrictions unlikely to be lifted right away from the Star-Telegram.